Visiting Friends Long Gone

[Soban]

Aimi Miyamoto spent a lot of time in the gave yard as a student of the academy. It was part of their responsibilities and training to take care of the graves of the honored dead. Aimi supposed she should be glad there was only one grave that deeply mattered to her. One grave of a beloved friend. However, in her heart it was one too many. She passed other graves of people she knew. Most of them killed in the Kirigakure invasion.

Today was a sunny day, with a clear blue sky and the sun's light shining down. She had avoided the clamor of more crowded days at the cemetery. The black kimono of morning went well with Aimi's dark skin and purple hair. In one hand she held a single white rose, signifying the purity and innocence that she mourned. In the other she carried picnic basket. She finally stopped at the grave, it was shared with many others who had also been cremated or their bodies were unrecoverable. She knew exactly where to find the name she was looking for, Shuichi Yasujiro. She ran over the name with her fingers and whispered it. "Shuichi Yasujiro."

Aimi lay the rose on the grave and put the basket down, spreading a blanket and setting out her meal as was her custom. There was a fire pit where the bodies were cremated. She layed some wood in, not enough to fill the whole pit, but enough for a small fire. "So it's been another year Shuichi. Sometimes I envy you, dying isn't easy, but sometimes living is harder. I hope when we reincarnate, we can do so together, make up for the time that we lost."

Aimi added tender, kindling the fire into life. She watched it grow and start to eat at the logs. "I know that you would want me to move on, to really live rather than being stuck in the past. So I've made friends, studied, and played. I've done my best to live for the both of us. Someday, when I have children, a daughter will carry your name forward."

Finally satisfied with the fire's growth, Aimi lay back against the tomb with her head under Shuichi's name. She closed her eyes, and called to mind her memories of Shuichi. They were both orphans, no family to remember or to help them. For as long as Aimi could remember before the invasion Shuichi had slept on the Futon next to Aimi. After the lights had gone out, they had talked and conspired together.

Even as she drew forth the happy memories, the darkness of Shuichi's fate weighed her down. Kemari had been their favorite game, kicking around a small sack filled with rice. It was far from a 'proper' ball, but it was what they had to play with. The two had been playing it at the Academy when the invasion happened. The memories hurt in the same way that someone who had moved far from his home yearned for his home again. To see their brothers and sisters and friends again. But couldn't not anymore, not for a very long time.

Finally, she let her self remember how it happened. The town had been destroyed and the only people left were fighting. Food was hard to come by in a city that was a war zone now. Most days she went hungry. The two of them had found a hole under a house. It wasn't a big hole, but neither of them were big girls. It let them watch over an enemy post at the end of the street. Dusk was falling and Aimi had already returned and had the hole to herself for the moment. She heard Shuichi's feet, running. Aimi almost poked her head out, but instead of entering, Shuichi tossed a package into the hole. That's when she heard the shout of 'hey!' from a ninja. Shuichi broke into a run, and Aimi cowered in the hole as Ninja feet ran past her.

She heard Shuichi's scream when they caught her at the end of the alley. The invading ninjas were not gentle. However, as the sky lightened again for morning, Aimi slipped out. Shuichi's body was covered in bruises and blood coming from a thousand cuts. Aimi thought she was already dead. She tried to lift and pull Shuichi to their hide away. Shuichi's eyes fluttered open. "Aimi" She said weakly.

"Your alive? I've got to get you to safety, a Medical-nin-"

"It's too late. I'm not going to make it." Shuichi said coughing up blood. "I'm not going to be a ninja Aimi. You have to be the one. Prove to them we belong. Prove you are who I know you can be. Promise me you will deliver the package and finish my mission." Shuichi said as the life faded.

"I will, I promise I'll prove it." Aimi said through her tears.

Shuichi nodded as her breathing stopped and the life left her eyes. Aimi pulled Shuichi's body into their hide out. She moved to the slit in the stones where she could look at the Ninja who had killed Shuichi. They were laughing, seemingly without a care in the world. She took note of their faces as the rage built within. She wouldn't forget them, ever.

She slipped out into the darkness and finished the delivery. In her death, Shuichi had been looking out for not just Aimi, but the whole village.

It took her a couple more days of scavenging to find the right materiel. To craft the explosive tags. The dangerous work was done while most of the patrol outpost was asleep. Aimi didn't say anything to them as she finally formed the rat hand seal and the post exploded. Rather than feeling satisfaction, Aimi felt nothing. The hole where Shuichi had been was still empty.

Aimi did well for the rest of the war, but when the invaders left, she returned to the Academy. Her class was smaller than it had been and there were fewer teachers. New faces would take their places. They did their best to honor them, but the invasion had left a hole in the hearts of all, not just Aimi.

Aimi straitened from the tombstone. "I still miss you old friend." She breathed out. She set the plates and food out, one for herself and once for Shuichi.

"I made Chūnin this year, just like you always said I would. But it doesn’t feel right without you here. I keep thinking back to the classes we used to go on together, how you’d always joke around, even when things got tough. Now, it feels... quieter. I miss your laugh." She said, taking a bite of her sandwich.

Aimi chewed for a moment, ruminating on what to say. She tossed Shuichi's sandwich into the fire. "Oh, and guess what? I’ve been working on that cool sword jutsu we talked about. You know, the one we never quite mastered. I finally got it to work! It’s still not perfect, but I know you’d be proud. I can almost hear you teasing me about taking so long."

Aimi took another bite, and a drink. "Remember that dream we had? About traveling beyond the village and seeing the other lands as Ninja? I'm going to be going soon. I don't know where my missions will take me yet, but I'm going to be finally going. I wish you could see it with me."

"There’s been talk of more conflict on the horizon. I don’t know what’s coming next, but I’ll be ready. I’ll protect everyone... like you always did. I'll prove that I have the spirit of fire. I don't know if I understand it, but I will if I don't. It will be your fire that helped kindle mine." Ami thought for a moment, considering what she had said. She asked herself what fire was in her. She could, in theory at the least not be a ninja. Not do what had nearly killed her repeatedly and had killed Shuichi.

Aimi considered quitting, but tossed that idea away immediately. She had come too far, suffered too much to live as anything less. She wanted to help people. She wanted people to be safe from war. She wanted to be more than a weapon though. There wasn't a purpose to life if you didn't live it.

Death was an end, your soul might reincarnate, but Aimi always thought that some part of you, your memories were lost. It was sad, it was hard to know what past lives one had lived or what future ones you might live. She had hopes for her future lives, but she had to live this one right here. She thought about all of the problems in the world, and the ones she was naturally talented to solve. She didn't know if her regeneration was a solution, but it meant that she could take hits that that others might not survive. It meant that she had to be on the front lines, if she liked it or not.

As she looked at the fire consuming the food offerings for her friend, she wasn't completely sure that she liked it. She might prefer to stay in Konoha and do something. Perhaps sell weapons or something. However, it felt empty to her. She didn't have the skills or the aptitude to sit around a shop all day making weapons.

She looked at the list of names with Shuichi's and wondered for a moment if they might have been saved by a medical-nin. She might be a Medical-nin? That felt more right, but not completely. She hadn't seen much of medical-nins fighting. It wasn't enough to be out there healing people, she needed to be where she could be hurt.

The realization sent a chill down her spine. If she could be hurt, she would be hurt. She didn't like pain. She paused on that thought. Was there anything that really mattered in this endless cycle of death and rebirth? When you were dead, there wasn't any thought or wisdom, or anything. When you were alive, it didn't matter what you did, you would be forgotten eventually. She took a breath and thought about what the sun taught her. Aimi looked up at the sun in the blue sky. She closed her eyes and let the suns rays fall directly on her face as she paused to consider.

She couldn't take anything physical with her, but she wasn't entirely physical. When she was reborn, the life she lived with Shuichi would be the starting place for the next. She could take her relationships with her. While she might not remember, her habits and patterns of thought would also go with her. What she thought now would have an impact. It wasn't just her thoughts and way of thinking, but also her moral character. What she thought was wrong and right. She didn't know this and the sun didn't teach it to her, but it was something she felt at the bottom of her soul. She would also take her relationship with her body and chakra with her when she was reincarnated. Those were the things that mattered; relationships, character, and strength. Everything else was ephemeral.

Pain was ephemeral, but saving someone wasn't. Life here and now mattered, everything Aimi did, everything that Shuichi had done would echo across eternity. With that, Aimi found some peace in the knowledge of her future pain. That she would endure it and make her life, suffering, and death have meaning. Just as Shuichi had given her life to help make sure that other ninjas would have the supplies they needed. A life of purpose, and Aimi knew her purpose wasn't to be behind others, but to have others behind her.

With the fire dying down, Aimi stood. The death of the fire also meant the death of this reunion. She had work to do, and where Shuichi was, there wasn't any work. The conversation she had with the tomb had reminded her of what was important. She reached over to the tombstone and touched Shuichi's name again before she left. "Until next time, friend."

Words: 2025